Boca's red-light cameras catching fewer violators

Boca started its red-light camera programs in April 2012. Now, the amount…

May 13, 2014|By Anne Geggis, Sun Sentinel

BOCA RATON —

Drivers in Boca are having less wrecks at red lights – and the unblinking cameras posted there may have something to do with that.

That's good news for the city, which installed the cameras at six high-traffic spots hoping to make them safer, a move that appears to be working.

Boca's Deputy Chief, Michele Miuccio. called the cameras a "force multiplier" that reduce the need for human police to patrol traffic hot spots.

"It's educated our community to stop at the intersections and be a little more prudent when they approach the intersection," Miuccio said.

Data presented to the City Council Monday showed that more than $1 million in red-light camera fines were issued over the first 15 months they were operating. In the last seven months, the automatic policing system has issued few fines and generated almost zero revenue for the city.

The report showed there were 12 percent total fewer crashes at the six, red-light camera intersections in the eight months after the installation, compared to the eight months before.

Those figures have Boca police thinking that people are being more careful out there, knowing they are in front of the camera when they are behind the wheel.

The report on the 2-year-old red-light camera program came in response to a request from Councilman Robert Weinroth, who had concerns about the city ticketing right-on-red violators.

But there didn't appear to be any move on the part of Boca's City Council to follow cities such as Margate and Hallandale, which recently decided to stop issuing tickets from red-light cameras. The cameras don't cost Boca anything even if there aren't any red-light violators caught.

"Statistics certainly demonstrate that it's been successful," Mayor Susan Haynie said of the program, which Boca implemented in April 2012.

The cameras do affect how people drive, according to some who've gotten tickets thanks to the cameras.

Marlene Klotz of Boca Raton received two tickets in quick succession after the cameras went live, but none since then, she said. The cameras have made her cautious, and more annoying to cars behind her when she's making a right turn.

She said she won't take a chance and go right on red these days. She said she was sure she had stopped the time she got a ticket.

"I have no confidence in the cameras," the grandmother of 11 said. "So I wait until it turns green. And people become very angry like, 'Move it, lady.'"

Jeff Curtis, a Boca resident, beat the red-light camera ticket he got more than a year ago and hasn't gotten one since. After that, he's made it a point to stop when making a right, instead of slowing down, he said. But he doesn't think that makes things better.